CORUNNA AND ITS HERO
A century has passed since Sir John Moore, mortally wounded on the
heights of Corunna, was carried from the battlefield and buried on
the ramparts. Corunna to-day is a busy, thriving seaport, and has
much that will attract the visitor's attention. There are the quaint
old twisted streets, typical of Galician towns, where you may imagine
yourself back in the days of that immense Armada which sailed from
the deep, wide harbour to vanquish England, and can picture Drake's
swoop on the Galician coast ten years after the British navy had
shattered the fleet which had been so proudly called Most Happy and
Invincible. When the Armada left Lisbon it consisted of nearly 130
ships, with an aggregate tonnage of 58,000, carrying 2400 guns, about
20,000 soldiers, 8000 mariners, and over 2000 rowers--30,000 in all.
Some of the ships proved leaky and were badly found, and owing to
heavy weather the Armada was forced to put into Corunna for shelter.
Enormous quantities of provisions had been thrown overboard because
they were bad, and there was not enough water to drink. Pestilence,
too, had carried off many of the sailors and soldiers. The huge fleet
finally left Corunna on July 12, 1588, and by that time death and
sickness had reduced the strength of the fighters to 24,000.
Modern Corunna has its great tobacco factory, employing several
thousands of women and girls, fine ornamental grounds, statues, and
public buildings. These may command only passing notice, though
greater attention will be given to the mule-drawn trams and the
diligences which run regularly between Corunna and the surrounding
towns and villages. Nothing can more clearly give an idea of what
primitive travelling in Galicia means than to watch the diligence
from Ferrol, Finisterre, or Santiago drive up with jingling bells
and cracking of whips, to put down weary passengers, and, the horses
having been unharnessed, to see the oxen draw the coach to its
departure-place. There are to be seen, too, the _miradores_, glazed
frontages for which Corunna is celebrated. These vast stretches of
windows protect the houses from the strong winds in winter and form
bright and warm interior verandahs. Most of the modern houses in
Galicia have these glass-protected verandahs in the top story, where,
in winter, the greater part of the inhabitants' spare time is spent.
The glazed exterior allows the heat of the sun to be retained, and
compensates for the absence of fires. Corunna differs from other
Galician towns in having not only many more modern buildings, but
also in providing all the stories with the _miradores_. The streets
are lively and busy, and some of the shops are very interesting.
There are several good _cafés_.
There is the harbour, with its shipping, the magnificent scenery, the
cemetery--worth a visit by those who wish to compare the Spanish mode
of burial with the English--and the famous lighthouse which is called
La Torre de Hércules. Corunna exports great quantities of onions and
sardines, chiefly to America, and in the streets you may see enormous
loads of the vegetable being taken to the quays for shipment. But to
the ordinary visitor the ramparts and the heights of Elviña are the
great attractions, for on the one Sir John Moore is buried, and on
the other he made his last stand in that retreat which for sufferings
and horror was not equalled by any of the Peninsular campaigns.
It was at Corunna that the Duke of Wellington, then
Lieutenant-General Sir Arthur Wellesley, landed on July 20, 1808,
when he entered the Peninsula to begin and see to a triumphant finish
the war which lasted six years and gave to England an unparalleled
series of victories. The French by that time were masters of Spain,
and it was Wellesley's purpose to free the country from Napoleon's
tyranny. The Spaniards had risen against their conquerors, and
Wellesley found that "no one dared to show that he was a friend to
the French." The Gallegans, brave and patriotic, clamoured for
arms, and Wellesley furnished the Junta of Galicia with £200,000
and promised the immediate despatch of military stores. He sailed
from Corunna on the night of the 21st, and joined the fleet of
transports and convoys next day. On the 24th he reached Oporto in the
_Crocodile_. A few days later the troops landed, "each with one shirt
and one pair of shoes besides those on them, combs, razor, and a
brush, which are to be packed up in their greatcoats." The men landed
with three days' bread and two days meat, cooked. Three weeks after
leaving Corunna Wellesley won his first victory over the French, at
Roleia, with a loss on his own side of nearly 500 killed and wounded
and on the French of 1500. The opening shots of the war were fired
by riflemen of the 60th, now the King's Royal Rifle Corps, and the
95th, now the Rifle Brigade. The Rifle Corps has no fewer than
sixteen Peninsular battle honours, won by the famous 5th, or Jäger,
Battalion--foreigners, mostly Germans, who were in British pay. Since
its origin in 1800 the Rifle Brigade has been composed entirely of
British troops. Throughout the war Wellington found these riflemen
of the utmost service, and he frequently spoke of them in terms of
praise.
Moore's retreat to Corunna was a tragedy from start to finish. Spain
was in what appeared to be a hopeless state, and of all its provinces
none was more severely harassed than Galicia. War had impoverished
an already poor and burdened country, and there were none of the
resources available which are needed for the successful conduct of a
great campaign. In 1807 the French army entered Spain, and early in
the following year Madrid was captured by the conquering legions of
the Emperor. For a few weeks only the visitors remained in peaceful
possession; then there was a rising in the capital, which began the
long and bloody fight to master Bonaparte. On May 2, 1808, the French
troops and the Spanish populace came into conflict, and for nearly
three hours there was incessant firing and slaughter, and many acts
were done which have become famous amongst many famous deeds. A
musket had been fired from one of the houses, and a mameluke dashed
into the building. He was slain by a beautiful girl, and she, in
turn, was instantly cut down by the assailant's comrades. A huntsman,
who was celebrated as a marksman, fired twenty-eight cartridges
against the French, bringing down a man with each. He maintained his
deadly fire until his ammunition was finished; then, arming himself
with a dagger, he hurled himself against his foes, and was killed as
he struck at them.
That outrage in Madrid let loose the pent-up passions of the
Spaniards. They had, in the lonely hills and valleys of their
country, many chances of retaliation, and they showed no mercy to
the Frenchmen who became their prisoners. Even the sick and the
medical attendants were butchered, and some were done to death with
incredible barbarity. A French officer was returning from a peaceful
mission into Portugal, unconscious of the fact that hostilities had
broken out. He was unarmed and unattached to a military force; but
he was a Frenchman, and that was looked upon by his captors as proof
sufficient for his doom. The Spaniards seized and mutilated him;
then, having secured him, still living, between two planks, they
sawed him asunder.
In the autumn of 1808 Moore had taken command of the army in
Portugal, and had marched into Spain to drive out Napoleon, who
had sworn that he himself would become the king of that country.
Unexpectedly encountering overwhelming forces under Marshal Soult,
Moore recognised that his only hope of salvation lay in retreat, and
accordingly he resolved to fall back on Vigo and embark his army
in the transports which had been ordered to assemble there to meet
him. Circumstances compelled him to alter his plans, and finally to
resolve to get on board ship at Corunna.
Moore had rapidly covered 400 miles on his way from Portugal to
Spain, and found himself in Galicia. There he learned that his
allies, the Spaniards, had been routed and dispersed. Anxious to
avoid confusion and unnecessary calls on an impoverished country, he
entreated the Spaniards not to fall back in the same direction as
himself; but they did not accede to his wishes, and the result was
a hopeless overcrowding of the houses on the line of retreat, and a
call on the resources of the land which could not be met.
Officers and men who fought in the Peninsula and shared in the
sufferings of that appalling retreat to Corunna have put on record
vivid pictures of the terrible state of Moore's army. When he reached
Benavente he sent General Crauford with 3000 men by way of Orense,
nearly a hundred and forty miles away, which offered a shorter but
harder road to the coast.
Moore's purpose was to prevent the French from securing an advantage
over him by employing a light column. He himself took the longer but
better road which led through Astorga and Villa Franca. At Astorga he
was joined by Baird's division, and Moore ordered the destruction of
everything which could check his retreat.
The rainy season had been succeeded by heavy falls of snow, for Moore
was high in the hills, and the cold was intense, while the roads and
fields by which he had to march were almost impassable. By that time
the condition of the army was pitiful. Typhus fever swept through the
ranks, and the roads were dotted with dead and dying men and women
and children. In those days women were allowed to accompany British
soldiers to war, and Moore had even a larger proportion than usual
with him. The privations of the women and children remain as the most
terrible feature of a retreat which stands almost unparalleled for
suffering and loss. There was no ammunition for the guns, none for
the muskets, and the soldiers were almost unshod and in rags. In this
respect there was little difference between the pursuing French and
the retreating English.
At the beginning of December Moore had 20,000 men under him, and he
was relentlessly followed by an enemy in overwhelming force. Men
and horses fell and died on the march, and day by day the flying
army had had its strength reduced by death and desertion. Whole
regiments forsook their colours and defied authority, in spite of the
punishment of death which was imposed for disobedience and drinking.
Whenever a wine-house was reached the soldiers raided it, and forgot
their misery in debauchery.
The main body of the army kept a day's march ahead of the reserve
and the rearguard. On New Year's morning 1809 the main body reached
Bembibre, and immediately assailed the wine-shops. So hopelessly
drunk were many of the troops when the rearguard came up that it was
impossible to arouse them to a sense of their peril from the French
cavalry who were harassing their rear, and they had to be left behind
in great numbers. By that time the opposing armies had been marching
within sight of each other for many miles, and the French horsemen
swept on the drunken mob and butchered it. Soult's dragoons thundered
in amongst the helpless crowd of British troops and shrieking women
and children, and without distinction of sex or age put them to
the sword. A few soldiers, mangled and bleeding, escaped from the
massacre, and Moore ordered that they should parade through the ranks
and show their wounds--a stern warning to the army of the effect of
drink and disobedience.
Believing that Astorga would be a resting-place, the retreating
army had kept up something like order, and had been inspired by the
hope of battle; but there was no rest. Again everything that was
burdensome was abandoned, and the terrible withdrawal was continued.
"From that hour," said Lord Londonderry, "we no longer resembled a
British army. There was still the same bravery in our ranks, but it
was only at moments, when the enemy was expected to come on, that
our order and regularity returned, and except in that single point
we resembled rather a crowd of insubordinate rebels in full flight
before victorious soldiers than a corps of British troops moving
in the presence of an enemy." Moore himself, in the last despatch
he ever wrote, said he could not have believed that such complete
demoralisation could have overtaken a British army.
Marvellous distances were traversed, notwithstanding the difficult
country and the bitter weather. Villa Franca was reached on January
2, after sixty miles had been covered in two days. One march alone
represented forty miles, but that was continued by night as well as
day, and was marked by the abandonment of the dying and the dead.
The troops dropped by whole sections on the road and died. "Not men
only," wrote Lord Londonderry, "but women and children were subject
to this miserable fate. Moore's army had carried along with it
more than the too large proportion of women allotted by the rules
of the service to armies in the field, and these poor wretches now
heightened the horror of passing events by a display of suffering
even more acute than that endured by their husbands. Some were taken
in labour on the road, and in the open air, amid showers of sleet and
snow, gave birth to infants which, with their mothers, perished as
soon as they had seen the light. Others, carrying, some of them, two
children on their backs, toiled on, and, when they came to look to
the condition of their burdens, they would probably find one or both
frozen to death."
[Illustration: ELVIÑA, WHERE SIR JOHN MOORE WAS MORTALLY WOUNDED]
[Illustration: THE HOUSE, MODERNISED, IN WHICH SIR JOHN MOORE DIED]
Guns, waggons, and even treasure were abandoned on that fatal road.
Dollars to the value of twenty-five thousand pounds, which were in
two bullock-carts, could not be drawn any farther by the exhausted
oxen, and the casks containing the coins were stove in, and the money
thrown over a precipice. Some of the ragged, starving soldiers lagged
behind to seize the money, and perished either by the French sabres
or the winter's cold. Sick and wounded were abandoned in the waggons;
and at last, on January 11, the worn and famishing survivors of the
flying army reached the village of Elviña, on the heights of
Corunna, about two miles from the town.
Moore went into Corunna and took up lodgings in a little house
facing the bay, and directed the embarkation of his fugitives in the
transports, which arrived from Vigo on the 14th.
The French did not molest the embarkation for two days, but on the
16th they advanced, 20,000 strong, to assault the 14,000 who alone
remained of Moore's worn-out troops. He had done his best to bring
his sorry remnant to the coast, and he had triumphed. Now, at the end
of his retreat, he showed the superior French force that as a fighter
he was as dangerous as ever. He destroyed bridges and ammunition, and
blew up 4000 barrels of gunpowder--an explosion which wrecked all the
windows in Corunna--and used every artifice he knew to prevent either
his men or his _matériel_ from falling into the hands of his foe. It
seemed as if even now, at the end of his tribulation, the British
chief would get away from Spain; but Soult forced him at the very
last to give battle, and on January 16, 1809, the worn and harassed
leader, from a piece of rocky ground at Elviña, just beyond the
village, directed the battle which, beginning at about two o'clock in
the afternoon, continued furiously till darkness fell.
Time after time the Frenchmen charged the shattered remnant of the
hero's force; but as often as they advanced they were driven back
and broken by the men who, with all their faults of drink and
insubordination, knew how to fight and conquer.
All through the terrible retreat the British soldier's prayer had
been for a battle, and now that his supplication was answered he
proved himself a true son of his country. Not even Soult's genius
and the valour of his overwhelming forces could master the stubborn,
sullen troops who held the little church and streets of Elviña.
Napoleon's veterans were driven back, and when the day gave place to
night his famous marshal knew that the army which he had harassed and
pursued for so many bitter days would escape.
Twice, with frantic valour, the French had taken the village, and
twice they had been hurled out of it at the point of the bayonet by
the Guards, Highlanders, and linesmen under Moore. He had covered his
amazing retreat with a triumphant victory; but in the very moment of
success he was struck down by a cannon-ball, which shattered his left
shoulder.
Moore fell from his horse, his arm hanging only by a piece of skin,
and his breast bared to the lungs. Some soldiers took him up and put
him, conscious still, into a blanket, and bore him from the field of
battle to his lodgings. He knew that the French were beaten, and,
turning to an old friend, he said: "You know that I always wished to
die this way." He lingered for a few hours at his lodgings, and just
before he passed away he murmured: "I hope the people of England will
be satisfied. I hope my country will do me justice." It was almost
a repetition of the glorious death of Nelson in Trafalgar Bay, 600
miles below Corunna, on the Atlantic Coast, only three years earlier.
The embarkation was still in progress and the French guns were
booming as the valiant British rearguard filed in silence to the
beach. The victorious general died while the transports were
receiving the troops, and, wrapped only in his military cloak, he
was borne by men of the 9th Foot, now the Norfolk Regiment, to the
hastily dug grave on the ramparts, where he was buried, his farewell
volleys coming from the distant artillery. The officers' silk sashes
with which the body of the beloved commander was lowered into the
grave, and the prayer-book used at the hasty funeral service, are
preserved in the Royal United Service Institution Museum, Whitehall.
When Moore was first laid to rest the ramparts were little more than
a wilderness. Soon after the burial the body was exhumed and placed
where it now is. The grave is made of Galician granite, the urn above
is of white stone, and common stone was used in the construction of
the enclosure.
The British victors sailed from Corunna, having spiked their guns and
buried them in the sand, and when the French at last entered the town
even the sick and wounded had been taken safely off to sea.
Corunna cost Moore nearly a thousand men. The French suffered
far more heavily. During the retreat the British casualties were
6000, including deserters and stragglers, of whom 800 escaped into
Portugal. Three hundred men were drowned in the wrecks of two
transports off the English coast, and many died of disease after
landing.
Moore wished to be buried near the spot where he died, and his
grave is only a short walk from his last quarters. The brave and
noble Soult paid homage to the hero who had perished in the hour of
triumph. A French gun is planted, muzzle downward, in each corner
of the enclosure, and palm-trees rise gracefully from the soil. A
few yards away you may look through the ruined embrasures and see
the heights of Elviña and the Atlantic into which the survivors of
the great retreat were sailing while their fallen leader was being
lowered to his resting-place upon Corunna's ramparts.
[Illustration: SIR JOHN MOORE'S TOMB AT CORUNNA]
[Illustration: CORUNNA BAY, FROM THE RAMPARTS]
[Illustration: MAP OF GALICIA]
INDEX
ALFONSO XII., 59
Alps, The, compared with Galician Hills, 27
_Ambrose_, The R.M.S., 51
Animals, Wild, in Galicia, 27
_Antony_, The R.M.S., 37
Arcos, Balanced stone of, 148
Argentina and Gallegans, 18
Armada, The Spanish, and Corunna, 14, 25
Arosa Bay, 15, 167
Art, Works of, in Galicia, 43
BAYONA, 118
Betanzos, 26, 116, 130
Booth Steamship Co., Ltd., The, 47, 91, 117, 130
Borrow and Vigo, 67
his remarks on robbers, 105
his advice with regard to Spanish, 107
his description of Ferrol, 112
_Bouillabaisse_, 36
Breakfast in Galicia, 35
CAAVEIRO, Valley of, 116
_Caballero_, The, 33, 38, 53, 136
Caldas, 169
_Caldo Gallego_, 36
Cambados, 174
Cangas, The fishing-town of, 61
ghastly festival at, 62
Castillo del Castro, 55
Castle Mos, 59
Cattle markets, 41
Censer, The Giant, 84
Cies Islands, The, 51, 57, 67
Civil Guard, The, 32, 105
Clavijo, The battle of, 26
Climate, 9
Clubs in Galicia, 47
Columbus and Galicia, 13, 25, 172
Commercial travellers, 136
Convent, A, 168
Cortegada, 15, 168
Corunna, Fishwives of, 32
Corunna, Modern, 182
Moore's retreat to, 184
privations during the retreat, 184
battle of, 191
losses during the retreat, 194
Cottages of Galicia, 41
Cuntis, 169
Cycling, 138
DANISH butter, Use of, in Galicia, 38
Déjeuner in Galicia, 36
Diligence, The, 127
Drake and Galicia, 79, 96
Dwarfs, Dance of, 90
ELVIÑA, 183, 191
Emigration from Galicia, 7, 65
FERROL, description of, 112
British enterprise at, 114
Finisterre, Battles off, 111
Fish and vegetable markets, 53
Flowers in Galicia, 9
Ford, Richard, 26
Frontier, The, 120
Funeral, A Russian sailor's, 64
a peasant's, 163
GALICIA an historic ground for Englishmen, 13
the progress of, 15
hotel accommodation in, 20
the coast-line of, 25
floods in, 27
security of travel in, 33
chambermaids and waiters of, 34
Gallegans, The, 6
shyness of, 17
character of, 18
their martial valour, 19
their alleged stupidity, 19
food and drink of the, 29
Gallegans and Portuguese farming, 16
Gate of Glory, The, 81
Giants, Dance of, 90
Gold, Annual gift of, by King of Spain, 89
Golf-links, 177
HAIR, strange mode of dressing the, 160
INNS of Galicia, 103
Ireland, Galicia compared with, 18
JUNTA of Galicia, The, 184
KING'S Royal Rifle Corps, The, 184
LAGER beer, Spanish, 37
La Toja, The Island of, 15, 174
the Grand Hotel at, 16, 175
the mud and springs of, 176
Lerez, The River, 173
Londonderry, Lord, and Corunna, 189, 190
Los Dominicos, Convent of, 122
MADRID, The rising in, 185
Maize, drying of, 30
maize-bread, 8, 29
maize-barns, 30
Marin, 162
Mass, High, celebration of, 84
Miño, The River, 1, 4, 5, 27
the bridge over the, 120
_Miradores_ at Corunna, The, 182
Mondariz, the hotel at, 16, 145
the waters of, 144
new pump-room at, 147
Moore, Sir John, death of, 192
burial of, 193
Moors, The, and Galicia, 26
Motor-cars, 133
NIGHT-WATCHMEN, The, 31
ORENSE, 123
PARDO BAZAN, The Countess of, 17
Phoenicians, The, and Galicia, 26
Photography, 44
Pigeon-cots, 30
Pigs in Galicia, 40
Pilgrims and Freebooters, 11
Policemen of Galicia, The, 32, 33
Ponies, 129
Pontevedra, 12, 13
the _sereno_ of, 31
the people of, 172
Porriño, 104
Press of Galicia, The, 66
Puenteareas, 66
Puentedeume, 116
Pulteney's expedition, 114
RAILWAYS in Galicia, 129
Ramallosa, 118
Rande, The Strait of, 58
Redondela, Bridges at, 65
Ribadavia, 122
Roleia, The Battle of, 184
Romans, The, and Galicia, 26
Roman ploughs, 53
Roman remains, 168
Rosary, The Festival of Our Lady of the, 86
SAINT JAMES and El Padron, 10, 171
killed by Herod, 71
his staff, 84
and military stronghold, 113
Salvatierra, 122
San Benito, The village of, 101
San Domingo, The Convent of, at Pontevedra, 172
San Simon, The Island of, 56
Santiago, The road of, 10
the streets of, 12
scallop-shells at, 12, 95
founding of, 71
pilgrims to, 72, 91
the bells of, 73, 90
history of, 74
students at, 75
the Cathedral of, 76
the treasury, 77
St. James's figure, 79
the _compostela_, 80
the sepulchre of St. James, 81
the Gate of Glory, 81
the giant censer, 84
the Church of San Martin, 86
St. James's Festival, 88
the Royal Hospital, 92
the Cardinal's Palace, 92
Sardines, 54
Messrs. Barreras and the sardine industry, 63
Scenery in Galicia, 149
Scottish Highlands, Galicia compared with, 20
_Sereno_, The, 31
Seven Sisters, The, 52
Smoking-carriages, 131
smoking in Galicia, 43
Sobroso, The Castle of, 149
Soult, Marshal, 186, 191, 194
Sport in Galicia, 27, 176
Street of the Hundred Maidens, The, 26
Sunday evening in Galicia, 102
TEA, The River, 146, 148
Telegraphy in Galicia, 42
Thackeray and _Bouillabaisse_, 36
Tourists and Galicia, 39
Trains, slowness of Galician, 132
Travel, security of, 105
Treasure ships and Vigo, 57
Tuy, 4, 119
UMIA, The River, 170
VALENÇA, 1, 3, 119, 121
Vigo, 67
Galicia's chief portal, 52
the Alameda, 54
the municipality of, 55
warships at, 63
Villa Garcia, 167
Villeneuve, Admiral, 115
Vineyards, granite posts in, 28
WAITER, The Galician, 37
Washing in Galicia, 161
Wellington and Corunna, 183
Wines of Galicia, The, 46
Women of Galicia as workers, 156
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